Paris I

In Paris, we got the ticket to Clichy – where we would be staying. The hostel here was pretty sophisticated, although a tad crowded, and the room gave us a view of the Eiffel Tower! Aah! Its indescribable! Later that night, Minu and I tried walking to it that night, only to discover the next day, much to our chagrin, that after walking about 40 min, we had covered about 1/6^th of the intended distance. The tower is 324 meters high, and is visible from almost everywhere in and around Paris.

The next morning – really conscious of any money that we spend – we headed to the Arc de Troimphe – the huge arch started by Napolean, and completed only after the First World War. It houses a memorial to the unknown soldier at the bottom, which we didn’t visit, considering that it would be another 5 eur. Most of the morning, we spent walking around the Ile de la Cite – the old Paris. It’s taken straight out of a postcard – not almost – but fully and wholly! Every building is picture perfect, most build in an age long gone, singing paeans to a glory long gone. Most of them seem to be build in sandstone, giving the entire area a ‘yellowish’ feel. We walked along the Seine, capturing images of bridges, the Neuew bridge, the Alexander III bridge and many more.

We saw the famous Cathedral of Notre-Dame, but saw no hunch-back! Grand, it is, no doubt. Again, it reminded me only of the power the church exerted over the bourgeoisie, and the unquestioning faith such an institution would have commanded from the people, of the excommunications, of the executions carried out in the name of God. It was still in use, the priest giving sermons in French, to the sanctimonious, morally stunted and hollow masses.

We passed by the Louvre, which we see later the next day, and the Musee D’Orsay (more later). We then took a train to Versailles, the historic suburb of Paris, which was stage to so many world shaping events.